This is a place to get information on Protest Petitions in the State of North Carolina and how back in 1971 the City of Greensboro exempted themselves from this North Carolina General Statute. This blog is here to inform and did make the city of Greensboro be like every other city in this state and have a Protest Petition avaliable to their citizens in the zoning process,by passing a State Law in House Bill #64 during long session of 2009 on 3-5-2009.

Jan 19, 2009

Greensboro News & Record's Amanda Lehmert has a new article in the online edition of paper titled "Council to Discuss Protest Petitions".CLICKHERE

Here are a few quotes that are gems to hear.

Roy Carroll , developer and remember Greensboro City Council member Robbie Perkins is his leasing agent at his Center Pointe development CLICKHERE for that report, Quote "Protest petitions can and are used to try to extort all kinds of things out of property owners. Not just developers, but property owners. It is something I have seen firsthand the negative effects of, Carroll said."Hey Roy Carroll there are also positive effects on having the ability to use Protest Petitions just ask the neighborhood in High Point called Sutton Place.Nice to say that neighbors are extorting you.

Greensboro City Council Member Robbie Perkins had this to say"If we are going to have a protest petition law, it needs to be based on realistic parameters. I don't think 5 percent is a realistic parameter to cause a super majority vote," Perkins said.Hey RobbiePerkins then why don't you become a state representative and change the law. This is a state statute and to deny the citizens this right is unfair.

Greensboro City Council Member Dr. Trudy Wade had this to say,"Councilwoman Trudy Wade said she would be interested in getting together a committee that can write legislation everyone can agree on."Dr.Wade , there is no compromise on this issue it is a North Carolina General Statute 160a-385 and 386, the 5% is the law that every city in this state abides by. If you want to change the law then support Greensboro having this right then lobby the whole state but beware the League of Municipalities tried for 5 years straight to no avail as David Owens from UNC School of Government has said before.

Greensboro City Council Member Zack Matheny had this to say"We need to review our zoning process. Is it broken? Do we need to fix it? Are the neighbors winning?" Councilman Zack Matheny said. "I will tell you, in my cases, the neighbors are winning."Zack Matheny thinks thatthe neighbors are winning, oh really. Please go ask the neighbors off of new garden road who had to come up in front of council to have the lawyer continue the wedding planner at the last minute then right before it goes to council he withdraws the case. If you saw how that process worked and how the neighbors who were dead set against the wedding planner if they would have even hinted at a Protest Petition then the ridiculous rezoning case would have never got off ground and the neighbors would not have had to come to council twice to be turned away with barely any notification. You can also add Lawndale Avenue to Westridge Road to Rehobeth Church Road to Elm Street & Cornwallis to Horse Pen Creek Road to Garden Lake Drive to Guilford Hills area with Rices Toyota to Pisgah Church Road to Hill Top Road. There are plenty of cases where the neighborhoods are not getting a fair shake and to deny them this right to a Protest Petition is not right.

It seems like the TREBIC contingency will be out in full force with Roy Carroll saying that neighbors are extorting him. That will be a great argument to hear from Roy Carroll on wednesday if he speaks on this issue.

Let me leave you with a quote from Donna Newton at the Greensboro Neighborhood Congress"We should not be the only city in the state of North Carolina that doesn't have this right," said Donna Newton, liaison to the Neighborhood Congress." That is correct and we will see what happens on Wednesday.

In Zack's case it most certainly is not working! Evidence is the desecration of the corner of Battleground/Old Battleground and Horsepen Road. Beautiful old oaks were plowed down off of 40 acres of property and blacktop laid down over half of it (the other half is still mud). Then the developers planted a few sticks and are calling them trees.

Come on down Old Battle grown about a quarter mile and see another area where lovely old oaks were plowed down to make room for condos. There are many developers building and at the same time preserving what beauty they can. With nothing and no one holding them back Greensboro's developers are using the cheapest methods and destroying what has made Greensboro so lovely.

No Little Zack Melvin's district is not at all happy with him and he will be voted out if he runs again. BB

anony, good question but this is a statute in the North Carolina General Statutes that applies to cities not counties and for her to say that all 100 counties is a false statement. We could argue that Guilford County is mainly made up of cities who use Protest Petitions and maybe we could get the whole county to have PRotest Petitions, David Owens from UNC School of Government has said this

"There is no specific statutory authorization for the protest petition in the county zoning enabling legislation and therefore absent authorization through local legislation, counties likely do not have the authority to use the protest petition.. The lack of express authority for a protest petition in the county statute, when the parallel city statute has it, is one indication that counties lack the authority to allow for the protest petition. G.S. 153A-4 provides that the grant of statutory powers to counties, including the zoning power, "shall be broadly construed," and G.S. 153A-343 gives the county board of commissioners authority to provide for the manner in which zoning regulations are amended. The protest petition could be one manner chosen. However, G.S. 153A-45, the statute governing county adoption of ordinances, specifically provides for adoption by majority vote on ordinances for which a public hearing must be held. While counties have some flexibility under G.S. 153A-4, that flexibility does not extend to authorizing a procedure that is contrary to the express terms of the statutes.

Triadwatch - I don't know how nor why reincorporation would happen (intentionally). Just curious. I guess it's a combination of Cat Skinning 101 & application of The Law of Unintended Consequences - Have any actions been taken by the GA or City since elimination of protest petitions that would invalidate the elimination or, at least, require the GA or City Council to reauthorize the act?